Digital marketing is the marketing of products or services using technologies, many across the Internet, but includes mole phones, display advertising, and any other digital medium. Digital marketing is always changing; companies develop new ways to utilize technology to succeed, former innovative strategies become antiquated and fade away, and new ideas emerge that have revolutionary ripple effects across the entire sector.
Some new approaches offer only minuscule advantages, but are certainly important. Conversely, some digital marketing strategies can change entire industries and can even reshape the way advertising is thought of, studied, and utilized.
It’s true that 2019 will certainly feature a few strategies that have been in the works for years, but there is a buzz among digital marketing professionals when it comes to innovative new approaches. We reached out to some of the leaders across the digital marketing industry to find out what they are expecting, emphasizing, and looking forward to throughout 2019 and beyond:
Local approaches and social monitoring
No matter what happens throughout 2019, large national retailers will likely reign supreme. But that doesn’t mean local businesses are going down without a fight. Local businesses, for that matter, aren’t going anywhere.
“It’s exciting to see the ‘buy local / shop local’ movements happening all over the country,” said Dani Owens, of Pigzilla. “I’m hoping to see a trend in 2019 of small independent businesses taking back some of the market share.”
Perhaps the best way marketers can improve their local revenues is to monitor local consumers’ social habits, rather than simply relying exclusively on Google searches (which is still obviously vital).
“One of the most effective SEO strategies in 2019 will be using social monitoring to generate topic ideas before your competitors can research these topic keywords,” said Keller Tiemann, of Leadsurance. “The strategy is quite simple really, by using social monitoring for keyword research rather than Google’s keyword data, you are going to find opportunities before your competition does.”
Once again, Content remains King
In January 1996, Bill Gates wrote an essay titled “Content is King,” which was published on the Microsoft website. Certainly, the digital landscape has been completely changed multiple times since the late 1990s, but one thing remains the same: content is still king.
“I think the ‘quality content’ and fresh content is something that can rank your sites up and even beat your competition,” added Umer Idrisi, of All Blog Things. “Fresh and quality content is the only way of doing SEO for a long-term ranking plan.”
Idrisi isn’t the own digital marketing professional who’s stressing the importance of quality content in 2019 — not by a long shot.
“Publishing great content is still going to be a solid SEO strategy for 2019,” added Christine Parizo, of Christine Parizo Communications. “When I say ‘great,’ I mean not only knowing what keywords your prospects and customers are using in search engines, but also writing content that is useful to them.
Additionally, SportsEpreneur’s Eric Kasimov states that the days of gaming Google are (thankfully) over and marketers should look to improving their content strategies:
“Amazing, genuine, and helpful content is all that real people should focus on. Google and others will find the amazing content from there.”
Personal, personal, personal and understanding
Viewing customers as data entry points might work on a spreadsheet, but it’s not going to translate to real relationships, real revenue, and real commercial success. Instead, focusing on being much more personable with your audience is a much better approach.
“[I believe] 2019 is the year of personalized marketing,” said Ryan Esco of FireRock Marketing. “With the ability to track customer behavior such as clicks, links, and purchases, the ability to personalize marketing messages is becoming easier and easier. This data enables the marketer to communicate on a personal level with their target audience through, content, email and products. Marketing personalization enhances the customer relationship and efficiently empowers the consumer for an optimized experience.”
Similarly, being able to identify and understand the wants and needs of your clientele is crucial for success.
“The secret of effective SEO in 2019 is to truly understand your audience(s) and what their needs are — then publish focused, quality content on a well-developed site,” added Content Pilot’s Jeremy Ash. “Unfortunately, this basic strategic foundation is often overlooked in favor of on-the-horizon trends. At its heart, the goal of search is still answering your users’ questions with relevance and efficiency. Don’t lose sight of that as you prioritize your time, effort and money in 2019 and beyond.”
Creativity within SEO
When it comes to SEO content, though the writing itself needs to be compelling, engaging, and of the highest quality; marketers shouldn’t lose sight of the importance of creativity.
“Energize your blog posts with strong visuals and shareable content — you’ll be onto a winner,” said Jonathan Bird of Delivered Social.
Wes Marsh of Digitalus echoes Bird’s sentiment, though he emphasizes the importance of staying on top of logistical aspects of SEO, as well:
“[I believe] 2019 will see a continuation of content-driven SEO success. As Google continues to match their search results with user intent, brands who can succinctly answer their audience’s questions will thrive on page one. But SEOs should remain cautious and take a holistic approach. Site speed and accessibility, inbound and internal links, and topical authority will still play a large role.”
And RavenTools’s Andrew Ansley highlights the main aspects of SEO that need to be prioritized this year:
“The four biggest factors in 2019 SEO will be a massive focus towards on-page optimization, structured mark-up, tiered link building, and trust signals. Google is trying to move towards more on-page factors to validate its rankings. As Google gets better at understanding content, my prediction is that straight up link building won’t be enough to brute force your way into the SERP.”
Final thought: Optimism
The digital marketing landscape is always going to change and marketers and consumers alike will adapt accordingly. Sure this is a stressful industry, but there is a lot of excitement surrounding the digital marketing sector, as well.
“I believe digital marketing has evolved for the best and organically continues to grow,” said Alex Valencia of We Do Web Content (WBWC). “The search engines are still looking for new content that has the expertise, authority, and trust. The only way to accomplish this is to create a plan that includes; content strategy, technical SEO, social integration, branding, and authority from reputable external links pointing to your website.”
